Elections - Glendale

Q&A with Gary Hirsch

Gary Hirsch seeks his first term on city council, representing the Cactus District in southeast Glendale.

QUESTION: What do you consider the city's three biggest accomplishments in the last four years? And why?

QUESTION: If elected, what are the three biggest challenges you hope to tackle in the coming term?

1. Glendale has the highest city taxes in the State of Arizona. The reduction and final elimination of the primary city property tax is my immediate goal.

Glendale is very well funded and will continue to meet our public safety and other responsibilities. This tax reduction will help hold property owners harmless from huge increase in property values and provide some much needed relief for everyone, but particularly the elderly, the poor and those on fixed incomes.

Then we should begin the process of reviewing the cities entire tax structure for opportunities for further reductions.

2. The re-development of the Glendale Ave corridor with neighborhood friendly world class mixed use privately funded projects. This will provide a long over due "face lift" for this blighted heart of our community, create new local jobs and increase our sales tax revenues.

3. Cultivate civility, mutual respect and common purpose among the city council, city staff, citizens and our private enterprise partners. We need to foster open dialogs, acceptance of honest differences of opinion and agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

We will get a lot more accomplished for our district and our city by building alliances and coalitions. Harsh rhetoric, provocative and inflammatory remarks are counter productive and completely uncalled for.

QUESTION: How does the city plan to tackle job growth?

Job opportunities caused by development of the Loop 101 will continue and future projects coming on line for the Loop 303 bode well for local job seekers. The long overdue redevelopment of the Glendale Avenue corridor has the potential to create an incredible job magnet.

There is yet another opportunity for local job growth by launching a vigorous effort to capitalize on an existing primary railroad line and Grand Avenue expressway that serve as great amenities to attract commercial and light industrial development of the many acres of vacant land in the southern end of the Cactus district.

QUESTION: When will the city begin having a conversation about light rail? What's your position, if any?

It would be nice to be included in the line, however light rail is very expensive to build, maintain and operate. The federal government underwrites a large portion of those cost and we would want to confirm who would pay the remaining cost.

A careful review of where the route would be built and the impact on streets, auto traffic and neighborhoods needs to be well thought out before proceeding.

QUESTION: How does Glendale maintain its identity as it continues to transform?

Maintain the flavor of old downtown and continue to build on our success with sports and entertainment venues.

QUESTION: Have you ever been convicted of a felony?

No.

QUESTION: In the past 10 years, have you filed for bankruptcy protection or had a property in foreclosure?

No.

QUESTION: Have you been party to a lawsuit of any kind in the past five years? This would include civil cases, domestic relations, small claims and petitions against harassment.

Yes, as the plaintiff.

The Basics:

Age:54

Family: Single with four adult children and three grandchildren.

Background: Phoenix native, lived in Glendale 30 years.

Education: Attended the University of Virginia and Phoenix College; earned a certificate from the Center for

Executive Development at Arizona State University

Career: United State Marine Corps, 1971-1973; owned and operated a building materials fabrication company, wholesale distribution firm and six retail building materials stores in the Phoenix metro area, 1975-1991; currently employed as the estimating department manager at ELS Construction, Inc. a privately held construction firm that specializes in building municipal parks, commercial landscapes and large housing infrastructure projects.